Astros’ GM Jeff Luhnow: ‘We try and follow the rules’

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, speaking at the annual GM meetings, said Tuesday that the Astros ‘try to be good citizens.’

Photo: Matt York, STF / Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — General manager Jeff Luhnow, his team facing a second MLB inquiry focused on sign stealing, said the Astros “try be good citizens.”

Former Houston pitcher Mike Fiers told The Athletic that the Astros electronically stole signs at Minute Maid Park during their World Series-winning season in 2017. The Astros have begun an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball, the club said in a statement on Tuesday.

It is the second league-led inquiry that’s focused on the Astros trying to gain a competitive advantage. The league cleared Houston of any wrongdoing during the 2018 postseason when an Astros employee was accused of taking pictures in the opponents’ dugouts. This latest accusation involves a direct violation of major league rules — using technology to steal signs.

“I think that when an organization has success, there’s going to naturally be critics trying to figure out things that might not be right, or things that the organization may have not done properly,” Luhnow said Tuesday at the annual general manager’s meetings.

“We haven’t done everything properly, but I do feel confident that in general, most of the time, we did things right and we try and follow the rules. We try to be good citizens and we try to compete as hard as we can.”

Citing three anonymous sources along with an on-record interview and confirmation from Fiers, The Athletic reported the Astros had a camera in center field at Minute Maid Park focused on the opposing catcher. A television located below the dugout showed the feed.

Players watched the catcher and soon were able to detect what pitch was coming, sometimes banging trash cans to alert hitters in advance of a specific pitch. Videos of at-bats with audible bangs prior to select pitches began to circulate on social media following the story’s publication. Luhnow said he had not seen the videos.

“That’s not playing the game the right way,” Fiers told The Athletic. “They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win.”

During the season in question, Houston hit slightly better on the road (.834 OPS) than at home (.812 OPS). It scored 501 runs in 81 road games and 395 at home. The Astros went 8-1 at home in the playoffs before winning Game 7 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

Carlos Beltran, a member of the 2017 team and now the Mets manager, told the New York Post in a text message he was “not aware of that camera.” Astros manager A.J. Hinch declined comment.

“The reason we won the World Series in 2017 was Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Justin Verlander and a lot of great players,” Luhnow said. “They do things the right way. We as an organization, that’s what we aspire to do as well.”

The Red Sox were fined in 2017 after the Yankees filed a complaint against them. Major League Baseball discovered they were “sending electronic communications from their video replay room to an athletic trainer in the dugout.”

In his ruling that year, commissioner Rob Manfred said “all 30 clubs have been notified that future violations of this type will be subject to more serious sanctions, including the possible loss of draft picks.”

Whether the Astros will be punished remains to be seen. Major League Baseball still has an open investigation against the franchise as a result of assistant general manager Brandon Taubman’s tirade against female reporters following the American League Championship Series.

“I feel good about the organization,” Luhnow said. “I feel good about how I conduct myself and the way I operate. That’s all I can really stand by at this point.”

The Astros did not offer Fiers a contract after the 2017 season. He did not make any of the three playoff rosters that season. Fiers has played for Detroit and Oakland since leaving Houston.

“I told the teams I was on, I didn’t know how far the rules went with MLB, but I knew (the Astros) were up to date, if not beyond,” Fiers said. “I had to let my team know so that we were prepared when we went to go play them at Minute Maid.”

Fiers’ accusation is the latest lobbed against the Astros, who’ve been known to push boundaries in sign-stealing.

In 2018, Houston put a team employee near both opposing dugouts in the ALDS and ALCS who was accused of taking photographs. The act was more for surveillance than spying, Luhnow said and Major League Baseball concluded. MLB said the Astros were not determined to have broken any rules.

This October, unnamed members of the Yankees accused Houston of whistling to signal signs during Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Both Luhnow and Hinch vehemently denied the deed. Major League Baseball found no wrongdoing.

“We’re going to find out as much as we can, whatever there is to find out, and we’ll make a determination after that how we handle it and how MLB handles it,” Luhnow said.

Chandler Rome joined the Houston Chronicle in 2018 to cover the Astros after spending one year in Tuscaloosa covering Alabama football — during which Nick Saban asked if he attended college. He did, at LSU, where he covered the Tigers baseball team for nearly four years. He covered most of the Astros' 2015 playoff run, too, as an intern for MLB.com

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